Note this is the same strategy big pharma uses with doctors; symposia held in exotic locations. Read: bribery. I used to wonder that anyone would accept such largess without having at least one night of moral indigestion. I’ve since learned humanity has an incredible capacity to rationalize just about any action.

Bloggers, wake up. List your favor-granting, tchotchke-supplying influencers. Even if offered for free or for ‘loan’. List your sponsors. I understand you want or need to make money. Be open and honest, please.

I have no sponsors, have had none. If I did, they would be prominently listed in my right-side nav section here.

Astonishing. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. What concerns me more is the creation of ... no term for this yet ... ‘economic vacuum chambers’. As we see Republicans and Dems split off to ideological vacuum chambers, these targeted ads are feeding us product and services in ‘perceived’ economic and interest categories. What if I don’t fit the profile, but I’d really like an aged steak? Will I be served endless ads for Wal-Mart ground beef? What does this do to a person’s overall character, not to mention aspirations? Not describing this well, but I hope you get my drift. Many of these ‘feed them what they routinely view’ algorithms encourage and vivify terrible habit formation.

Guardian.UK: Want to imbibe wisdom by accident?

OK, but please understand they are the ‘snacks’ of wisdom. Short, easy to post and read. And then most of us move on, without any depth of thought. So many are posting mediocre images and tacking quotes on. It’s clichè turned to 11 now.